


Stingray City

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bad Flirting, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, sea flap flap wrangler Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-26 15:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13238865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “I’m going into the water, to play with the stingray. I’ll hold your hand, if you want.”





	Stingray City

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littleblackfox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleblackfox/gifts).



> Based, a bit, on true events.
> 
> But mostly because I encountered stingrays in Antigua and thought up this fic while in the water, surrounded by terrifying sea pancakes.

“It’s fine, Steve! Look, they’re friendly!” Nat called from where she stood, waist-deep in water so clear you could see the bottom, the waves playing with the ties of her little black bikini.

“Yeah, friendly to _you_ maybe. I’m pretty sure they’d eat me.” Steve stayed on the dock, which bobbed and bounced with the waves, his arms crossed over his chest. Even with sunscreen, and actively trying to get something of a tan, his skin remained blindingly pale, though he had managed to burn the fronts of both legs early into the vacation.

“Just get in, come on, it won’t be _that_ bad.” Nat shuffled over to a bucket on the side of the dock opposite Steve, reached in, grabbed a calamari, and shuffled back to the middle of the sandbar. “Just remember the safety tips. Shuffle your feet, don’t step.” Nat made a fist, with her thumb tucked next to the squid, and lowered it into the water, laughing as a stingray swam to her and sucked the food out of her hand.

“Hey Barnes, you comin’?” One of several men standing in the water called, his Caribbean accent warm and inviting.

“Yeah Sam, I’m coming.”

The owner of the voice, Barnes, walked up to Steve, and Steve couldn’t help but stare. Because Barnes was white. Steve mentally slapped himself on the head. _Stupid!_ , he thought, _With a surname like that, he’s bound to be white_. But it still came as a shock, because the island was 91% black, and the only other white people Steve had seen on the island were vacationers, like Nat and himself. Plus, Steve would be lying if he didn’t say that Barnes was hot.

His skin—at least everything that wasn’t covered—was tanned to a burnished gold, his dark brown hair pulled out of his eyes and into a half ponytail, a pair of mirrored shades resting on his head, never out of reach from a finger flicking them down over his grey-blue eyes. And then, with a casual ease that comes with years of experience, he crossed his arms in front of him and pulled his dark green Stingray City t-shirt over his head, exposing lean muscle and even more gorgeously tanned skin, and—Steve gasped, he couldn’t help himself—a tattoo spanning nearly his entire back.

The ray’s tail began at the base of his neck and followed down his spine, until it met up with the body three-quarters of the way down his back. The fins curved so that the tips were visible on his sides above his hips, and Steve had an itching desire to see just how far down the ink went.

But then Barnes stretched and pulled on the dark blue long-sleeve sun shirt work by all of the ray-keepers, and the show was over just as quickly as it had started.

Barnes turned to Steve, and Steve tried to will away the blush that had crept up on his ears and face.

“I’m going into the water, to play with the stingray. I’ll hold your hand, if you want.”

And with that, Barnes walked to one of three ladders submerged into the water and climbed down, his back facing the water. Steve considered the offer and climbed down after Barnes, taking hold of his offered hand once they were both in the water. Together, they shuffled over to one of the rays, held by the man Barnes had called Sam.

“You wanna touch her?” Barnes asked, looking at Steve, who reached out a shaking hand to the creature, then pulled back, then reached out again and stopped just short of making contact with the smooth-looking skin.

“Here.” Barnes said, and took Steve’s hand in his free hand, and put it on the skin, stroking it gently downward. “See? She’s soft. Almost silky.”

But Steve didn’t agree. “Silmy.” He said, as skin met shagreen.

“Hey, don’t say that! It’s insulting to the fish!” Sam defended the fish’s honor.

“Oh. Sorry fish.” Steve apologized.

“Do you want to hold her?” Barnes asked, now having let go of Steve’s wrist.

“Sure.”

Barnes nodded to Sam as he let go of Steve’s hand, so that Steve could hold the stingray. It worked for a bit, but the fish was big, and heavy, and slapped around in the water. Sam took the ray back, and Steve shuffled off to the center of the roped-off area, where he thought he was safe.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Steve was surrounded by stingrays. They were swimming at him from all directions, brushing up against him as they swam past, which caused him to jump. Nat looked up from where she stood petting a ray, and began shuffling over, but Barnes got to him first, wrapping an arm around Steve and pulling him to his side.

“Hey, are you alright?” There was concern in his voice, and Steve felt a pang of guilt that he could not explain.

Steve nodded. “Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

But Barnes shook his head. “No you’re not, you hate this. Come on, I’ll walk you to the dock.”

Steve sighed and gave in. “Ok.”

And Steve let Barnes walk him back to the dock. Along the way, Barnes talked to him.

“Keep your hand out of the water. That’s what’s attracting the rays, because they think you’re holding food.”

Steve lifted his hand out from the ocean.

When they were back on the dock, Barnes stepped onto the little speed boat that had borne Steve and Nat to this floating metropolis, and grabbed a towel from one of the benches and brought it back to Steve, draping it on his shoulders. Steve took the ends of the towel and pulled them tighter around himself.

“Thanks.” He said, sitting on the dock with his legs folded under him.

Barnes flashed Steve a smile. “No problem.” Then he stood on the middle ladder, so that his feet were in the water. “I have to get back in, but I’ll send your friend over to check on you in—” Barnes glanced at his waterproof watch, “twenty minutes.” He looked back at Steve. “It’s an hour-long session, and you were in the water for ten, _maybe_ fifteen minutes, so twenty minutes from now is the halfway point.” He stepped down the ladder, until his waist was submerged. “If you wanna get in again, you can.”

Steve nodded, watching as Barnes shuffled back to the rays. He noticed for the first time that the lettering on the back of Barnes’ sun-shirt spelled out WRANGLER in bright white letters across his shoulders. _Blue suits him_ , Steve thought, as he watched Barnes pick a ray up and hold it in his hands, close to his chest. He began spinning it around, slowly, gently, first one circle, then another, with a reverence and a love that was visible to Steve, and Steve couldn’t help but smile. There were many more people in the water now, as a large boat had docked on the opposite side, but that didn’t matter to Steve. He was happy to sit and watch others interact with the rays, but he wanted no part of it, thank you very much.

Eventually, Nat shuffled over. “Hey.” She leaned against one of the ladders, a calamari held in one fist.

“Hey yourself,” Steve said, now with more sunscreen on and his sunglasses perched on top of his head. “How’re the rays?”

“They’re very playful. Like sea puppies. Do you wanna get back in?” She lowered the squid into the water and a stingray swam up and sucked it into its mouth before it continued swimming onward, further into the ocean.

“I’m fine just watching, thanks Nat.” Steve said definitively.

“Well, if you change your mind…” Nat shuffled off to the middle of a group of rays.

But Steve was stubborn, and didn’t change his mind. When the hour was over he stood up and sat in the speedboat next to Nat. The man who had driven them to the sandbar got behind the wheel, and Barnes moved across the boat until he was sitting behind Steve, just in front of where the wheel stood. He had peeled off his soaked sun-shirt and replaced it with his green Stingray City tee instead, which was not so much too small as purposefully smedium.

Steve nearly swallowed his tongue.

Once they were docked at the land base, Nat hopped out and made for a booth, to pay for the experience. Steve stood on the beach, staring at the ocean as he sipped a fruit punch which tasted like cherry cough syrup.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Steve turned to see Barnes standing near him, now shirtless and sipping his own rum punch.

Steve nearly choked on his drink.

Barnes smirked at Steve as he sauntered over. “It’s too hot for shirts,” he licked his lips, “wouldn’t you agree?”

“Um,” Steve began, willing his brain to function, “yeah, it’s pretty hot.” He took a sip of his awful drink. “But not as hot as you.”

Barnes quirked an eyebrow at him and snorted. “That was terrible,” he said, after finishing what was left of his amber-colored drink and setting the empty glass on a nearby picnic table. “But not was terrible as what a ray can do to you.” He sat at the bench of the table and pointed to a mark on his calf. Steve came closer to see.

The mark was small, bright red, hickey shaped. If Steve hadn’t known any better he’d’ve thought Barnes had had quite a night.

“Does it hurt?” Steve asked, finishing his own drink and setting the dirty plastic cup on the table beside Barnes’.

“Naw, not anymore. Sometimes they bite, but not usually. They like people, especially people who feed them. They might seem scary or intimidate you at first, but they’re really gentle.” He looked up at Steve, smiling. “Like me.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “That was even worse than mine.”

“Hey, Rogers!”

Steve turned to see Nat walking toward them, holding a cd in one hand and a glass of pink fruit punch in the other.

“Hey Nat.”

She took a sip of her drink and handed the cd to Steve. “I got some photos on cd, to have something to remember this.”

Steve said nothing, but nodded.

After a third boat ride, Steve and Nat stood on the beach once more. They were given their shoes back, and as Steve thanked Barnes for all he done for him, he felt something press between the lines of his palm.

“Did you have a good time?” Nat asked as they headed down the road, back to the resort where they were staying.

Steve opened his hand, and saw a slip of paper tucked into his palm. Inside was a number, and a name.

_Steve, Call me, maybe? — Bucky_

Steve smiled as he folded the paper back up.

"I had a great time."

Yeah, it was nice to have something to remember this trip by. Nat had her cd, and Steve—well, Steve had stingrays.

**Author's Note:**

> Bucky's tattoo is based on [this](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f1/75/09/f17509e3c4b938ad60eef75d90ae65bb.jpg).


End file.
